


speak my language

by imposterhuman



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Fluff, Language Kink, Languages, M/M, Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Oblivious Bucky Barnes, Pining, Self-Indulgent, Tooth Rotting Fluff, flustered Tony, genius Tony, polyglot Tony, polyglot bucky, winteriron
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-14 21:05:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17515892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imposterhuman/pseuds/imposterhuman
Summary: 5 times tony pretended not to understand bucky + 1 time bucky realized itft. pining in foreign languages





	speak my language

**Author's Note:**

> heh this is definitely not indulging my language kink at all oops
> 
> anything underlined is in a different language, i didnt feel like translating everything
> 
> enjoy!
> 
> EDIT: now with a translation into spanish by the wonderful pavs1415! https://my.w.tt/h1i44vDeGV ! my thanks!

  1. Russian



 

It started on a Monday, like all terrible things tended to.

 

Tony was in his lab, working on specs for the armor. Bucky was sitting on the sofa, either reading on the tablet or blackmailing someone (he had the same face for both, Tony observed). Tony, unlike usual, was quiet. The gauntlet he was working on required the most precision detail work out of any piece of the suit, and JARVIS’s fabricators didn’t get it done as well as Tony could. He was wearing his glasses, tongue poking slightly out of the side of his mouth in concentration, when he heard _it_.

 

 _It_ was Bucky Barnes’s low Russian drawl, directed at his tablet, but undeniably about Tony. “  God, his tongue  ,” Bucky said in Russian, probably thinking Tony didn’t understand. “  The things I’d do to that mouth .”

 

Tony admirably fought down his blush, but Bucky wasn’t looking at him. “What was that?” Tony asked casually in English.

 

“Just cursing the dumbass main character,” replied Bucky easily, like he hadn’t just been making innuendos about Tony. Tony envied his composure. “He just jumped into a fight he had no business bein’ in. Reminded me of Stevie, back in the day.”

 

So Bucky really didn’t know Tony spoke Russian. _Huh_ . If his pants weren’t so tight, he’d probably find his ability to hide things from the ex-assassin flattering and funny. “Back in the day?” Tony snorted. “Steve’s _still_ like that.” Bucky chuckled and Tony went back to his gauntlet, trying to keep _it_ out of his mind.

 

“ And those lips ,” Bucky continued, oblivious.

 

Tony jolted, almost burning his hand with the soldering iron he was using. He dropped it with a hiss, shaking out the hand.

 

In a heartbeat, Bucky was at his side. “All okay, doll?” he asked, taking Tony’s hand in his own to examine.

 

Tony swallowed thickly. “All good,” he said cheerfully, hoping Bucky didn’t see right through him.

 

Bucky gave him a suspicious look, but went back to the sofa to read.

 

“ His hands are so perfect  ,” the Russian was back. “  I’d kill to see them wrapped around my- ”

 

Tony banged his head on the lab table, cutting off the rest of Bucky’s sentence. It was going to be a long day.

 

  1. German



 

Tuesday rolled around after a night dreaming of Bucky’s gravelly Russian. Tony wasn’t sure if the man knew about his crush and was teasing him, wanted a fuckbuddy, or something else (the tiny bit of hope that he hadn’t yet managed to quash told him his crush was reciprocated, but Tony shoved that down with a ferocity he used for traumatic memories).

 

Tony walked into the kitchen for coffee, wholly unprepared for what awaited him. On his way to the coffee machine, he bumped into a wall.

 

“Sorry, wall,” he muttered (because manners were important, even towards inanimate objects), patting it lightly on his way to the coffee machine. Only, the wall was warm beneath his palm, and not the same color as his normal walls, and-

 

_Shit._

 

He had run face first into a shirtless Bucky’s chest, who was currently cracking up next to Steve.

 

“I’ll apologize for real in a second,” Tony said, voice muffled by the coffee mug at his mouth. “Let me drink my coffee first.”

 

“Not necessary, doll,” Bucky teased. “I’m flattered, really.”

 

Tony didn’t verbally reply, mouth occupied by the entire pitcher of coffee he was drinking from. Instead, he flipped Bucky off and rolled his eyes dramatically. If he had to shake his sleeves a little to get the sweater paws to come off his hands, well, that was no one’s business. He was a terrifying force of nature, sweater paws or no sweater paws.

 

Bucky honest to god _giggled_ and turned to Steve. “  He’s like a kitten ,” he said in warm German. Tony almost melted. He thought Bucky’s Russian was the only surprise the other man had in store to get him weak at the knees, but he had never been more wrong.

 

“ He’s an adult man ,” Steve replied, completely unimpressed. Steve’s German was sharper, with just a hint of an accent. Idly, Tony wondered where he learned it.

 

“ _A kitten_ ,” Bucky repeated.

 

Tony glared. “That’s mean,” he said, stealing Bucky’s coffee from his hands.

 

“You don’t know what I said,” Bucky challenged. It took a real effort for Tony to keep a straight face. Sure, German wasn’t one of the languages on his official dossier, but really? How did Bucky _not_ know? He was constantly going on about idiot clients in Germany. Tony huffed in exasperation, deciding to continue his little game. What could be the harm?

 

“I bet it was mean,” Tony said petulantly. “And because you’re mean, you owe me more coffee.”

 

Bucky gestured at Tony, looking at Steve. “ See  ?” he said (still in German). “  A kitten .”

 

“So mean,” Steve said in English, looking like he was praying for strength.

 

He was not the only one praying, Tony thought ruefully. Bucky’s German might just kill him.

 

  1. French



 

Bucky really had no excuse for this one. What kind of rich boy _didn’t_ learn posh French as a child? But Tony could tell that Bucky really was just that oblivious. Wednesday nights were movie nights, barring, of course, aliens (any villain attacks on Wednesday evenings were met with _extreme_ prejudice. The villain community quickly learned to work around Wednesdays for their world domination schemes). Tony normally spent the movie curled up with someone, his touch-starvation pushing its way to the surface.

 

That night, he was laying on Natasha’s lap, her delicate (deadly) fingers threading through his hair and making him a little sleepy (it had been three or four days since his last good night’s sleep, he could use the rest). Bucky sat on Nat’s other side, looking at Tony fondly ever so often.

 

“ He’s sweet like this  ,” Bucky whispered in French to Natasha. “  Kinda want to cuddle him, kinda want to pin him down and ravish him .”

 

“ Ask him out  ,” Natasha replied bluntly. “  Definitely keep the bit about ravishing him in there. He’ll love it .”

 

“ I don’t want to ruin what we have .”

 

Tony was focusing less and less on the words and more on the calming cadence of the French from Bucky’s lips. He’d definitely freak out later, with the traitorous hope fluttering in his chest, but he was content to sleep then.

 

“ You won’t ,” Natasha replied, sounding sure.

 

Bucky groaned and Tony could tell that he rolled his eyes. “ You don’t know that  ,” he said, sad. “  It could ruin everything. He’d hate me. He’d pretend, but it would be awkward and terrible, and- ”

 

“ He likes you, too  ,” Natasha pressed, and Tony was proud of the way he didn’t even stiffen. “  Ask him out. But if you hurt him… ”

 

"I'd never," Bucky shuddered. “But s ince he’d never say yes to me, it’s not a problem. ”

 

Nat whispered something else, but Tony had drifted too much to translate it. He fell asleep, memories of Bucky’s soft French chasing away the nightmares.

 

  1. Hindi



 

Tony couldn’t blame Bucky for Thursday's debacle. Hindi wasn’t _that_ common, so it would be surprising if Bucky knew that Tony spoke it. He rarely used it, only dusted it off when talking to potential Indian investors. He would’ve brushed up on it, though, if he had known how dedicated Bucky would be to dirty talk in Hindi.

 

“What I wouldn’t do for a piece of that ass,” Bucky grumbled in Hindi as Tony climbed into the sparring ring, sweating and flushed. Tony stopped short, barely stopping himself from turning and staring. Bucky’s Hindi was sinful, the way his tongue wrapped around the soft syllables made Tony want to scream.

 

It took concentration on Tony’s part for him not to reply. At least he could blame his blush on the exercise.

 

“Again, Tony,” Steve said, forcing Tony’s head back into the match. “Focus.”

 

“I bet I could give you something to focus on, ” Bucky’s words were barely audible, but Tony stumbled at hearing them, letting his guard down and getting a solid punch to the face. Steve didn’t know Hindi, so he would be no check on Bucky’s behavior. The man didn’t even seem phased by Bucky muttering in foreign languages. Tony _really_ wished he understood what game Bucky was playing with him.

 

“Fuck,” Tony groaned, rubbing the forming bruise.

 

“I wish.”

 

“Cap, I’m going to beg off of training today,” Tony announced, already striding out. While Steve normally gave the orders (and Tony sometimes listened), _no one_ stood in the way of a determined Tony Stark. Wisely, the man let him leave (and Tony was pretty sure he didn’t notice Tony’s stiff walk). “Bye, now!”

 

“Hate to see you go, love to watch you leave,” Bucky’s Hindi followed him into the hall, blocking Steve's protests and making his escape to his room that much more urgent.

 

  1. Romanian



 

It was officially getting ridiculous.

 

Tony could handle the sexy talk. He wanted to climb Bucky like a tree, but he was handling it. What he _couldn’t_ handle, though, was Bucky sweet-talking him in Romanian. Fucking _Romanian._ Bucky couldn’t know that Ana Jarvis taught him Romanian, so terms of endearment were very familiar to him. He couldn’t know that Tony associated Romanian with comfort, with love, and every word out of Bucky’s mouth made Tony want to melt.

 

“ I just want to hold you  ,” Bucky said sadly, sitting on the couch where the whole thing started. “ I could make you so happy, sweetheart.”

 

Tony was soldering and praying for Thor to come down from Asgard and smite him. He couldn’t handle the emotions Bucky was stirring up. Hope, that damn traitor, was going crazy in his chest. Tony couldn’t make himself take that last step, though, and tell Bucky how he felt. He was still terrified that this was all an elaborate game, a prank to play on Tony’s fear of rejection. Never mind that Bucky would never do something so callous and cruel, Tony still couldn’t chase away that fear.

 

“ I think I’m in love with you, doll  ,” said Bucky, and Tony burned his hand.

 

“What was that?” he asked, desperately trying to save face.

 

Bucky narrowed his eyes a little, but fell back on his “knowledge” that Tony didn’t speak Romanian. “Just thinkin’ out loud,” he said, standing up to come press himself up behind Tony. “What are you making?”

 

“New Widow’s Bites for Nat,” Tony explained, Romanian forgotten. “I noticed in our last fight that there’s a delay between discharges, so I’m trying to fix that and make it more powerful without sacrificing the weight distribution. After that, Clint asked for some new arrows, so I’m making some that will blow his little bird brain.” He grinned, happy to show off to someone who cared.

 

Bucky smiled back. “ Never mind  ,” the rough Romanian was back. “  I don’t think. I know. ”

 

Tony choked on his tongue. This couldn’t go on much longer.

 

                  +1. Italian

 

Tony was definitely going to punch Bucky Barnes.

 

In the mouth.

 

With his mouth.

 

Gently and lovingly.

 

But a punch nonetheless.

 

The man was chattering in Italian, which he had to knowTony spoke. It was on his SHIELD file, for god’s sake! And he made no secret of his Italian roots.

 

“Hey, doll,” Bucky greeted in English, handing Tony a mug of coffee. Tony took it without hesitation, downing the whole thing in a few seconds. Bucky went back to his conversation with Natasha in Italian. “ I really want to kiss him. He’s so cute like this, sleepy and soft  .”

 

“ Then do it  ,” replied Natasha. She, at least, remembered Tony was Italian and cast a quick glance over at him. “  Nothing’s stopping you .”

 

“ Common courtesy ?”

 

“ Please  ,” Natasha scoffed. “ That went out the window when you started fantasizing about his ass in Russian.”

 

“ He doesn’t speak Russian, so courtesy was observed ,” Bucky shot back.

 

Tony sighed loudly. It looked like the jig was up. In Italian, he said “ Actually  ,” before switching to Russian. “  I do .”

 

“ Shit  ,” Bucky cursed in German, while Natasha laughed her way out of the room. “  Any others I should know  ?”

 

Tony winced. “Now would be a great time to tell me you weren’t kidding about that stuff you said,” he said sheepishly in Hindi, avoiding the question.

 

Bucky was a violent shade of red. “ Should I go ahead and assume you understand me  ?” he asked in French.

 

“ The French thing was your own fault  ,” Tony smirked, speaking in Romanian. “  What rich kid doesn’t learn French as a child ?”

 

“Why didn’t you say anything?” he was back to English, sounding hesitant and scared.

 

“I figured you were teasing,” Tony didn’t look up, toeing the floor awkwardly. “I didn’t think you liked me.”

 

Bucky stepped in close, catching Tony in a chaste kiss. “ I like you  ,” he said in Italian. “  Actually, I love you. ”

 

“ Good  ,” Tony melted in his arms, Italian flowing off his tongue like it belonged there. “  Because I love you, too. Now, I believe you said something about ravishing me the other day  ?”

 

After that, there weren’t many coherent words in _any_ language.

**Author's Note:**

> how was it?
> 
> comments and kudos make me less likely to hurl myself into the unforgiving void of space


End file.
